Rutgers Institute for Ethical Leadership

Mission: We strengthen ethical leadership to enhance civil society.

Combining research with practice, the Institute for Ethical Leadership’s (IEL) programs and services provide valuable learning opportunities to improve leadership effectiveness through the lens of ethical behavior, decision-making and values.  

The IEL seeks to create awareness and education about the importance of ethical leadership. We work with business and government entities, nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, and Rutgers faculty, students and administration, to help leaders and future leaders develop the critical-thinking and decision-making skills needed to create an organizational culture where ethical practice and behavior become habit.

The IEL, under the direction of co-founders Alex J. Plinio and James Abruzzo, and Research Director Ann K. Buchholtz, PhD, aspires to establish itself as the place that leaders, across all sectors, look to for guidance, partnership, and support to develop and improve the ethical culture and leadership within their organizations.

The IEL believes that ethical behavior drives good business and that merely operating a business within the legal confines of compliance can fail to address the complexities that constitute ethical conduct and considerations. Leaders must be prepared to deal with the more complicated and subtle critical-thinking and decision-making processes required to create an organizational culture where ethical practice and behavior become habit.